THIS POST WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON THE CRICKET WITHOUT BOUNDARIES UGANDA SPRING 2012 BLOG

If there is one over-riding impression of Uganda – it is the commitment of school children to their education. They literally walk miles to and from school – and during the Cricket Without Boundaries project we have witnessed their thirst for learning.

Before one of our afternoon sessions at Kilembe, I took the opportunity to walk up one of the mountains above the playing field. My first stop was about 100 feet above the field – which gave an excellent view. I sat for a while waiting for the next batch of children to arrive – and met a young lad called Baluku Bright (who had attended the impromptu Sunday training).

He had spotted me from down on the field – and had run up to find me. He wanted to show me his home, which he said was “just above where I was sitting”.

His idea of “just above” and mine differ slightly. I registered the climb on my iPhone’s altimeter – and we climbed a further 500 feet. He went up like a mountain goat – and I was rather out of breathe (he carried my bag for the last 200 feet!). Please watch the video of Baluku showing me the spectacular views from his family’s home.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=et44V5CoB-0

You can see where his home is in relation to our cricket training on the picture below. It was an experience….

…. and just to prove the height – this is the view of the ground as I was halfway down the mountain!

We also had a small primary school group from Pride Academy Kisinga. They had travelled 35 kilometres from their school – and hired a vehicle to fit 10 people – 4 teachers and 6 pupils. The distance and transport difficulties meant that they each had to find accommodation in local homes of teachers and family, so that they could attend the second day of coaching.

I was really pleased to be able to present to them for their efforts the cricket kit donated by the girls of Lincoln House at Oakham School. This was complemented by balls and t-shirts from Cricket Without Boundaries. The school were delighted – and are ready to take the game of cricket to all the other pupils and teachers.

Highlight of the day was our journey back from Kilembe to Kasese. We couldn’t let the children from the Pride Academy walk all the way back to Kisinga – so we packed them in to our bus! The thanked us by singing a beautiful song “I am a teacher/driver/cricketer because of education”. Listen to the lovely voices in the video below….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8AzfqOFBrQ

I’m off to Africa! I’m travelling as a volunteer for the charity Cricket without Boundaries (quite similar to the charity I founded/chair in the UK – Belvoir Castle Cricket Trust). I’m not sure that Uganda’s children are ready for my very limited cricketing skills – but I hope I can help.

The last time I was in Africa was nearly 20 years ago. I travelled with the Manchester United team as a sports photographer. I photographed the players in Soweto and meeting with Nelson Mandela. Looking through the photos I took – it’s quite a coincidence that Ryan & Nelson are in the headlines this week.

I am looking forward to going back – and this time helping (as well as recording with my camera).

Cricket without Boundaries (CWB) started in 2005, when the three founders went from Egypt to South Africa coaching cricket as they travelled. CWB has become one of the world’s leading cricket development and AIDS awareness charity – and now works with the ThinkWise project (which includes the likes of the ICC, UNAIDS, UNICEF and the Global Media AIDS Initiative (GMAI). It is dedicated to helping education and development in local communities around the world through the spread and growth of cricket. The charity works to spread cricket through coaching children and teaching adults how to coach and link the sport to HIV/AIDS awareness incorporating these messages into coaching sessions.

We are a group of 10 – with 6 of the volunteers coming from Belvoir Castle Cricket Trust. They include our Trust Director, Darren Bicknell (ex-Nottinghamshire and Surrey), some parents whose children have benefitted from BCCT’s work in the Vale and a couple of our volunteer coaches. It’s very special that the work that we started in the rural Vale of Belvoir will be extended to the villages and schools of Uganda.

You can follow our progress over the next 3 weeks on the CWB Uganda 2012 blog. I will be writing a diary and uploading pictures daily (starting from our arrival on Monday).

If you want to help the work that CWB is doing, please contribute to the project’s Just Giving page.

Observing the world at the moment is like watching a multi-car motorway pile up. It all seems to happen so slowly – but it’s inevitable that when the brakes are applied by some and directions changed by others that a big crash will happen.

My background is in print media and photography. I’ve written in the “project and tales” section of the site about some of my experiences at the cutting edge of digital photography in the early 90s. Less than 20 years on, I’ve just witnessed the inevitable crash of a big juggernaut as Kodak filed for bankruptcy.

Everyone could see it coming. No matter how brakes were applied, a new course steered or the attempts to accelerate away from danger – it crashed.

Much discussion has been had about the demise of newspapers. The focus has been on the outdated business models – and how only on-line paywalls can hope to sustain excellent journalism. The crashes have already started to occur in the US regional newspapers – and was well illustrated in the excellent docufilm – “Page One – Inside The New York Times”. In the UK, there has yet to be a major crash. Although many would connect the closure of the News of the World as much with economics as Murdoch’s empire trying to distance itself from phone hacking.

The bigger crash I can see is the inevitable demise of the whole print industry. It’s a supertanker powering towards a reef. If I’d have said this 5 years ago, you would have thought I was mad. But now, it seems to add up. Will the printing presses be running in 10 years time? I don’t think so – except as a “side show” like black and white photography darkrooms.

I used one of the first digital cameras in 1994 at the Lillehammer Olympics. I was part of a select few to use these prototype models at the games. At that Olympics, professional photographers alone shot 700,000 rolls of film. The images were carefully selected – and a number of them used in newspapers, magazines and books. In the 18 years since that first breakthrough, more pictures are used because of so many digital platforms being available. There will be 5-20 pictures shown on newspaper websites to back up the 1-2 pictures used in print. No mainstream photography is created using film – and printing is limited to when a picture needs framing at home. I’ve seen it happen in one great industry – and the printing presses invented by Johannes Gutenberg in the 15th century are next on the crash list.

I am typing this sitting on a train heading through Switzerland. Around me, I cannot see a newspaper – but plenty of people tapping and viewing content on iPhones and Androids. I’ve just been through the airport – and Kindles/iPads outnumbered book readers (and it’s early days for these reading devices). I still love reading a book in print. I’ll never stop loving it (much like the desire to process a film, put the negative in the enlarger and create a print through trays of chemicals). All that nostalgia will pass though, and I am sure the screen will win.

There is no doubt that Steve Jobs led the revolution on devices to consume content. However, when we look back in history – the real destroyer of Gutenberg’s legacy will be seen as Mark Zuckerberg. He brought hundreds of millions of people from around the world to their screens to engage with friends and consume content on Facebook. Make no mistake, many media companies engage on-line – but Zuckerberg’s Facebook has made screen consumption – at the desk or on the move – mainstream.

I had a brief email exchange with Jon Ferrara of Nimble the other day. He’s quite a visionary. I’d forwarded an article from Chris Brogan saying to get things done it helps to write out 3×5 index cards and put on your desk. Jon’s view was that this was “too old school”. I think he’s right – although I don’t know if I can ever give up scribbling my to-do list and musings in my Moleskin notebook (I have tried many, many to-do list software solutions). Jon’s company, Nimble, is redefining how individuals do business – and it’s on-screen.

Last week, I went to a board meeting at home in Bath. There were nearly 50 pages to print – so I took my iPad with PDFs loaded. It worked well, I “saved a tree” – and got nearer than I’ve ever been to the old ideal of the “paperless office”. I also read that at this year’s meeting of GE’s top executives, presentation materials will be available only via iPads.

I’m sure those of my age and older have heard these arguments before. It happened when television came on the scene. Newspapers were definitely going to die.

It’s different this time. This new wave will not just take out newspapers in their printed format – it will leave in its wake bookshops, magazine stands, printing presses, ink makers and paper suppliers. I am sure Gutenberg would be delighted. His solution was built for no other purpose than to spread “the word”. Gutenberg was the 20th Century’s greatest inventor – this millennium has started with Mark Zuckerberg in pole position. Like it or not (and there are some elements I certainly don’t like) Zuckerberg is spreading the word (and it’s not with ink on paper). There’s a new “Berg” on the block!

Bath Digital Festival is hosting a debate “Digital has killed the print industry and infantilised us in the process” at The Pump Rooms on Monday 19th March at 8pm. Tickets are £8. For more information click here…

There was an article in the Huffington Post today by Fast Company Editor Robert Safian. It’s a brilliant post on many levels. It captures much of my feeling about the future of work, it quotes heavily DJ Patil (who I have written about on other occasions) – and in “Generation Flux” (twitter hashtag #genflux) it concisely captures the challenge of our time.

I encourage you to read the full article. Please do forward to your friends.

I liked the quote from Charles Darwin at the end of Robert’s article:-

It is not the strongest of the species that survives; nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.

Our generation (and particularly our children’s generation) face an uncertain, unpredictable future. We’d all love to have a road map for this – but lack of visibility mixed with economic uncertainty means no pattern emerges. It will undoubtedly, as Darwin says, be our ability to adapt to change that will be our most important skill.

One of my favourite quotes is from Einstein:-

Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.

I like the quote most because it identifies how everyone needs to find their genius – and we should not judge others on our own abilities. However, the quote also has an ambiguity, which hints towards how we should always be prepared to adapt. Take a minute to watch this video of “Climbing Fish” from the BBC’s Life series.

Look at that! Surely we can embrace and adapt to Generation Flux if a fish can make the effort to climb!

PLEASE CLICK BELOW

Social Media has revolutionised the way we interact with our family, friends, contacts and acquaintances. We now have tools at our finger tips that help us to socialise, connect and share.

However, I feel the system has become a little flawed – because it doesn’t seem to work when we start to combine our on-line and off-line worlds. Let me explain.

I was at an excellent conference the other week at Battersea Power Station – The Power of One. The speakers were great – and one triggered an issue I have been trying to get my head around for a while.

Jason Calacanis talked about the challenges of future work. One of the key themes was social isolation. He said that the iPad works against social isolation. He made the point that you can easily share what is on the screen of the iPad with others close to you. A smartphone screen is too small – and a computer is too clumsy. The way we use the iPad means we can consume in more intimate places – like when we are going to bed or waking up. Most importantly it’s the first computer tool that you can use to socially engage with off-line.

He is right – and I have seen it happening in my family environment – and it prompts me to demand a joint account. Here is the example.

I love an iPad app called Fancy. It probably pips Flipboard to the post as being my No. 1 app. If you’ve not had a play – then you should have a look on the web, but it’s a whole new experience on the tablet. The App simply displays pages of 4 images of attractive products, designs, places, gizmos, accessories, gifts, etc. The idea is you “Fancy” a picture – and it is stored against your profile.

That works fine – but in the real world (as my wife will tell you) it is shared by going “oh, look at this” as I turn around and show the iPad screen to anyone passing by/sitting near.

The other element – and here is my key point – is that my daughter, Millie (who is 12) loves it too. She will sometimes sit with me – and we will “fancy together” … and sometimes she will pick it up and “fancy” her own stuff. So, if you look at MY profile on Fancy – you can often see a mixture of the latest super car/gadget…. and something pretty, fluffy, in pink!

The iPad gives us the first device that can be shared off-line easily (and there will be more to come). How do we make it that we can have a joint account and to reflect what we do together?

I wrote a while ago about my belief that the individual is the new group. That new services based on the principle of Soloware would replace corporate Groupware. I still believe that our technology and personal network will be based around individuals in the future – with the corporate group effectively bringing those individual units together. What I think is missing is something in between.

I’m just researching a possible venture using mobile devices in the heritage sector with a friend. The same challenge exists there. How do you make a couple or family group share an experience in the real world – but not define them as a group or individual in the on-line world. There are elements that we want to keep individual – but there is a lot that we want to automatically share (using the same device).

Anyway, there’s the challenge. Facebook, Google, Twitter – and especially Fancy … ‘I’d like to open a joint account, please”.

I gave up my career as a professional photographer in 1994. My life as a photographer had undoubtedly been a vocation, a passion, a love – but I was entering a stage where I was employing many people and had to knuckle down to the world of business.

I do miss being a photographer. The combined elements of competition, creativity and camaraderie probably make it the best job in the world. However, if you want a work/life balance – forget it. Photography has to be an obsession that overtakes your life – otherwise, I don’t believe you can be excellent at it.

Last weekend, I dusted off my camera for its annual outing to photograph my son playing rugby. Let me explain. When I gave up taking pictures 17 years ago – it was like giving up smoking or alcohol. I had to get rid of the cameras – and not be tempted to pick them up. I’ve only owned a professional style camera again for the last 5 years. It’s difficult to explain to non-photographers, but those who have worked as professionals will know the feeling of blinkered focus that comes over a photographer when your duty is to take pictures.

When I got rid of the cameras, it was 3 years before the birth of my son. It might seem strange that when he was born I made a conscious effort not to pick up a camera. One of my proudest moments as a father (and as an ex-photographer) is watching him taking his first steps without any temptation to run and get a camera. That moment is still in my mind’s eye – and emotionally that’s the very best you can get.

However, I do feel I have a skill taking pictures still (although rather rusty). I have in me a “duty to record” – and quite frankly I really enjoy the challenge of trying to take good pictures. Last Saturday’s rugby meant that I came away from the afternoon having enjoyed taking the pictures, but feeling that I had seen none of the game. I’d not shared in that day like the other parents. All photographers will tell you how they don’t feel they “see” an event when they “record”. I’ve photographed World Cup Finals (football and rugby) and Olympics (summer and winter) – but couldn’t honestly tell you that I’d “seen” them.

I was pleased with the results. There were some OK pictures of Joe – and some good ones of his team mates. I shared them with parents, kids and teachers – and got some very kind feedback. It was nice to dust off this out-of-practice skill to please people – but I feel it’s difficult to make the choice between photographs and/or memories.

My mind has been whirring around this topic – and a BCC Radio series of 15 minutes interviews called “Picture Power: Portraits of Five Leading Press Photographers” jogged some thoughts. If you have the time, do have a listen. The producer Miles Warde (who I understand lives just down the road in Bristol) – gives a great overview of the work of individual photographers. Miles follows them to The Royal Wedding, Tottenham Riots, Tour de France, 9/11 Memorials in NYC and Rwanda.

The short audio clips brought back memories for me. Not all of them happy. Geoff Waugh talked of his coverage of the Tour de France from the back of a motorbike. Miles asked him about the danger – and Geoff recalled the death in the Milk Race of his friend, David Worthy. David was one of my staff photographers – and a friend. It was a tragedy when he was killed in pursuit of bearing witness for others.

Lewis Whyld recalled his coverage of the Tottenham Riots. How a call from the Press Association picture desk saying there was a car on fire in Tottenham had culminated in his pictures being used all over the world. That brought back memories of the Toxteth Riots 30 years ago.

Jane Mingay was followed through her coverage of the 9/11 Memorial Service at Ground Zero. She was emotional and sensitive to the plight of others. She did her job through tears – and her pictures helped create memories for others. Mike Goldsmith talked about his harrowing experiences in Rwanda during the genocide. He also recalled dangerous times in other trouble spots such as Serbia. I remembered many of the difficult occasions that I had to “record” as a press photographer – none worse than the Hillsborough Disaster.

All these interviews had a strong theme about bearing witness. How their role was to record so others could see. All seemed to go into “the zone” to record (and often a very dangerous zone at that). They were all international award winners – but their photographs were taken to be preserved in the memories of others, not for their ego.

My simple thoughts are if you are there – remember (don’t snap, concentrate and get the most important things in your minds eye). For those who cannot be there – be very grateful for those professional photographers who record the memories (good and bad) for us.

Friday 11/11/11 will go down as one of the most surreal of my life. The day started with a look through my twitter feed on Flipboard. Lo and behold, I discovered the ideal Christmas present my Angry Birds addicted wife – “The Angry Boobs Bra: For Ultimate Angry Birds Fans”. The site that was selling it had a very funny sales line “If you are brave enough to pit one boob against the other, but all means, buy this hand-painted Angry Birds bra.” How do people think of these things – Angry Birds … and the bra?

Actually, later on in the day I attended the Power of One Conference at Battersea Power Station. Part of this Angry Bird’s question was answered.

For those of you have not been – Battersea Power Station is currently a shell. It’s a listed building (protected as an historic monument) – but there are just the chimneys, walls … and no roof. The conference is held in a large marquee at the centre of the building. We were told that this would be the last conference held on the site before it was redeveloped. By a twist of fate, the only other time I had been there was the very first conference held by Sun Microsystem in the mid-90s.

The significance of the day was not lost – 11/11/11. At 11 o’clock, along with the rest of the UK we observed 2 minutes to honour those who had lost their lives in defence of our country. Seemed strange being stood in a conference hall underneath those great towers. Low point was shared by a delegate who reported on Twitter “Cannot believe that I was just asked if the two minute silence observed at #p1event was to remember Steve Jobs.”

Back to Angry Birds.. One of the speakers, Jason Calacanis, shared that Rovio (Angry Bird’s creator) had 51 unsuccessful games before they hit on Angry Birds. So how do they think of these things? By lots of trial and many errors.

Error, failure and especially perseverance became a bit of a theme of the conference. This was brought home by the after lunch speaker – Yosi Taguri from Israel. He’s probably the best conference speaker I have seen – rivalling any of the great Jewish comedians (with a raft of bad language thrown in!).

Josi’s headline to the presentation was how he had spent his life F###ing things up. However, through perseverance he had managed to find success. I’m hoping the presentation will be available on-line soon – but there is a good write up on The New Web (TNW).

His story was peppered with failures and near-miss successes. These culminated in him creating a very simple game app called Pah! It’s such a simple video game. Space ship moves and shoot things. The twist is that you move the space ship up an down by saying AHHHH! and fire the rockets by shouting PAH!. You can see a couple of videos below – one of it being reviewed:

… and the other of a Chinese mum playing the game.

There are many more YouTube videos of the game in action. Here’s another one showing a violinist playing the game through the noise of her instrument.

Do support Josi and buy Pah!, it’s only 69p. It’s a great social game – breaks down barriers.

In the evening, I headed of for a “date” with a 16 year old! Well not quite. My friend’s daughter, Polly, who is 16 had to take a “business person” to a Black Tie guest night at her school. Her brief had said the person should be over 25. I think she had misread and thought the person had to be double 25! I was honoured – but it felt slightly strange picking up Polly and taking her out for the night.

The idea of the evening was to get the sixth formers used to the world of work. At the end of the night, we had an inspirational talk from a pathologist. Another quirk at the end of a long day!

Anwyay, it was great. Dr Suzy Lishman was not just any old pathologist – she can be found on Twitter @ilovepathology. She was an inspiring role model for the youngsters in the room. Again, she told a tale of perseverance – this time in pursuit of saving lives and understanding the cause of disease. One part struck home with me – and provided a link for the day’s experiences.

She talked about her long medical training – and then the selection of pathology as her speciality. She’d chosen to give pathology a chance after her boyfriend of the time said it was interesting. She then undertook intensive training for a 12 month period on the subject. She explained that the first 6 months were awful – and she wanted to give up and chose another discipline. She described the course being dominated by looking through a microscope at slides of human tissue being moved around (which made her feel queasy) and with the only colours being red and blue (the dies used to differentiate cells). She didn’t “get it” – and felt dizzy with spots in front of her eyes.

However, it suddenly came together for her after 6 months – and she got what pathology was all about. She understood “the game” and realised she was like a detective investigating. She was looking for clues – the needle in the haystack. As her skills developed, she unlocked levels, doors opened and she could make a real difference to people’s lives by finding the causes of an illness and suggesting medical solutions.

So, what have all these got in common? I think the message of perseverance is clear. It’s pushing through those times of failure, feeling that you’ll never get your head around a topic or you’ll never reach the next level.

I’ve written before about the power of gamification – the ideas put forward by people like Jane McGonigal, Daniel Pink and Clay Shirkey that there is a “cognitive surplus” being used in games that could be used for a greater good. What Dr. Lishman spoke about with such enthusiasm was how pathology became her addiction, her passion, her love.

Interestingly, Dr. Lishman described her 6 month experience training as a pathologist in the way my wife tells me about getting frustrated getting through a difficult level in Angry Birds. Lots of multi coloured dots moving around – and not being able to make sense of them. Dr Lishman talked about how she role plays as a “detective” – and that’s what makes pathology exciting for her. That sounds like game play too.

In our education for future work, we can (and should) learn a lot from how game makers enthuse through levels, role play, achievement and invoking passion. It brings out the persevering side of us – and that’s a skill we need in order to power through those failures (Yosi’s F### ups) and achieve success.

[My thanks go to Chris “Bookmeister” Book for organising such an excellent conference; Chris Day and Mark Power for their images with pencil and camera of the conference; Yosi Taguri for such a brilliant presentation; Dr Suzy Lishman for enthusing me about Pathology (want to come along to one of her Virtual Autopsies) – and, of course, my “date” – Polly, you were great company

P.S. Just for clarification – there is absolutely no way my better half would be impressed by a novelty bra! I’ll be getting her something much nicer for Christmas]

I really don’t like the “what do you do?” question. I don’t like to be asked it – and I try not to ask it of others (although when my limited smalltalk dries up, it has been known). However, I realise that these days before we meet, I might have “googled” you – and you might have “googled” me.

So, it’s likely that the “what do you do?” question is already being dealt with on-line. Is our on-line presence making the right impression? Is it telling our story?

I read a review of the official biography of Steve Jobs in this weekend’s New York Times. His story is amazing on so many levels – but if you ran his resume in CV format, it might look quite dull.

“I founded a computer company, they sacked me, I got involved in cartoon animation, then another computer company – and for the last few years went back to the first computer company for a second try at running it.”

It’s not the list of jobs – it’s the achievements and the world beating stories that put us in awe of Steve Jobs.

Why then, do we present ourselves with our jobs and roles in a boring list formats? Have we just been brought up to fill in forms?

Why do people judge us by “what do you do?” – without asking us to tell our story?

It’s great to get the regular formatting and all those dates in chronological order. Computers like them, LinkedIn can build a business around them – and HR departments can sift hundreds of candidates more easily. But what does it say about a person? What’s their story? What have they done that they are most proud of? What makes them special?

I’ve mentioned DJ Patil on the blog before. He was the LinkedIn Data Scientist who led the InMaps project. DJ – in his new role as Data Scientist in Residence at Greylock Partners – last week spoke about the information that LinkedIn process around CVs. Here is a telling statistic:-

“Unstructured data is harder to work with. Open text fields in forms can cause issues. There are between 4 and 8 thousand variations of IBM and “Software Engineer” in LinkedIn’s database”

So even that doesn’t work! For unstructured data, read the real you!

As you will have seen from my website, I’ve tried to get around this “dull CV vs story telling” issue by adding a “Projects & Tales” section. It hopefully defines me more through what I have done – not the list of jobs I have worked at and for how long.

I’m a big believer in trying to present things visually. It got me wondering whether there was the opportunity to solve the problem of dull CVs visually. I wrote a while ago about a start up in Singapore called Identifii. They had come up with a very simple psychometric test that gave a visual report. I like this type of format to get the “headline” of a person. Much better than the “what do you do?”.

A friend also pointed me in the direction of a new service called VisualizeMe. Just a few clicks and permission to access my LinkedIn account gave a graphical overview. This has potential – but not sure it tells a story.

Fast Company magazine reported on an interesting hiring strategy brought in by News Corp to find great coders who had not followed a conventional path. The sub-text of the article was “Why hire a PhD, when a self-taught kid is just as good?” News Corp are having to compete with some major players in Silicon Valley. They decided they would literally take anyone who had the “right stuff”. Their project was named “Code Foo” and their recruitment campaign said “Flipping burgers to scrape together enough cash to buy Portal 2?” and “Blow our minds while you’re here and we’ll hire you.”

They brought in 28 students – with the aim of taking on 4. They took on 8. Roy Bahat, the ING (Division of News Corp) President said:

“It’s not like if you looked at their résumés, you would have said it’s impossible that they would be qualified for the jobs. But if you only looked at their resumes and said, ‘Should we interview this person based on this résumé?’, there wouldn’t necessarily be a reason to say yes. They’re the kind of people we would have overlooked.”

An innovative approach – and the six weeks allowed these candidates time to tell their story!

As we approach a very different world, where individual presentation will be so important – it’s important that we try to find the tools that tell our story. The “what do you do?” is the old-world equivalent of today’s google search for your name. We need to pay attention and be ready to tell our story when that google search button is clicked!

Building my personal website has been a stressful experience. It has produced frequent crisis of confidence. I’m not naturally a self-promoter – and I blush as I write this article about narcissism.

My “bible” during the build has been Lynda Gratton’s book – “The Shift: The Future of Work is already here”. It’s an excellent, recommended read. It’s been mentioned in a previous blog post – and I am sure will feature in many more. Lynda’s book also formed a significant part of The Economist’s Special Report on “The Future of Jobs”.

Lynda peppers the book with quotes about the challenge to balance narcissism with reputation building and personal branding”:

“These are also the people who will tread the fine line between out-and-out narcism and a more nuanced presentation and branding of self.”

“Walking the line between personal branding and making a mark, and out-and-out narcism, will be increasingly important.”

“I don’t want to confuse narcissism with this reputational building. It’s not narcissistic to want to build a trusted personal brand – it’s vital.”

It’s encouraging – but doesn’t give you much of a safety net. Being a pioneer – can mean you fall flat on your face and your personal branding just makes you appear a pushy, self-promoting, narcissist!

Also, while the website building process has been going on – I seem to have been bombarded by headlines such as:-

Marketing to Narcisists – by Seth Godin

Social Network Overuse Breeds Narcissism – the Daily Telegraph

In the end, I bit the bullet and did all the things that I needed to do. Some were easier than others.

I had some great help from the team at local Bath agency, Storm. Dave Kelly (the “award-winning” young boss) took the brief, Andrew pulled together a simple – but striking – design and Liam wired it all up so that it worked. It’s been quite a big build as I decided that the “Projects & Tales” area were going to be the best way to build confidence with visitors. The site is aimed at business founders who might want help – and like minded individuals who want to make contact. Lynda’s book was again useful on this:

“Attractors pull others towards them because they are seen as open, so others feel less anxious about approaching them, and they are seen as good at reciprocating, so their friends are keen to introduce their friends to them. But perhaps the most important pull of attraction is that they are seen as interesting and exciting, and create clear pathways along which others feel they can approach them.”

It would have been cheaper to just have a DIY site from About.me or Flavors.me – but I felt the “storytelling” was important. Would be interested to hear your thoughts if you get chance to compare the three sites.

Having my picture taken was pretty cringey. Despite being a professional photographer for nearly 15 years – I’d never been the “victim” of a studio photographer before. Neill Menneer from Bath studio Spirit Contemporary Photography, put me at ease. I’m pleased with the results. It was originally suggested that I could just have a “snap” done – but the professional photography makes such a difference. I think if I was running on a tighter budget I would have had the pro photo session done – and just gone with About.me or Flavors.me. I would then have worked harder on a basic WordPress.com blog to back up those sites.

Writing the project and tales was a cathartic and enjoyable experience. It was definitely self-indulgent, but an important opportunity to reflect on what I have done that I’ve enjoyed and have managed to make a difference with. Getting the tone right was important – and here I drafted in the services of my “big sister”, Sandra. She’s an experienced newspaper sub-editor. As well as knocking the writing, spelling and grammar in to shape, Sandra was able to give me an honest answer to my questions like “does this make me sound too much of a twat!” I hope she’s been honest!!!

Finally, I knew that there was one page that needed to be a bit more “sales”/pushy. That was the About Me page. I decided to outsource the writing of this. Lea Woodward offers a great service to do this. I sent her the draft of my site – and a brief on who I was trying to reach. I think she’s got the tone right – and along the way she reinforced that I should use “you” in my writing much more than “I”. Training the narcissist out of me!

Well, the site is now up and running. I’ve still not shown my wife or given her the link. I still find the idea of talking about myself and showing personal pictures in such a public way skin crawling!

I did read an article last week that did give me faith that if I come across as a narcissist, it’s not that bad.

Michael Maccoby – author of books like “Narcissistic Leaders: Who Succeeds and Who Fails” and “The Productive Narcissist: The Promise and Peril of Visionary Leadership” said:

“Steve Jobs is a text-book example of a brilliant productive narcissist, a change-the-world personality who evolved into a great leader by developing his strategic intelligence: foresight, partnering, visioning and motivating.”

RIP Steve – a narcissist the world admires!